Tipsheet - promoting your site on search engines
Search engines and directories are an important way of attracting traffic to your website. This tip sheet is designed to help you understand the different ways to manage the process.To download a PDF, printable version of this tipsheet, click here
First, get listed everywhere you can.
Getting listed with engines takes time – unless you want to pay money. You can go to Google and other sites and submit your site for free, but you then have to wait up to eight weeks for them to index your site. To read about the different types of search engines and how to get listed, go to www.searchenginewatch.com, which provides links to some of them.
Get other relevant websites to link to your deep pages.
Search engine results are listed by a ranking procedure, which includes a rank based on the number of websites that link to you. However, it isn't good enough just to get as many sites as possible to link to your home page. Google likes it more if similar-themed websites link to specific sections of your site contextually. The more of these genuine deep links you have the better.
Link out to other related sites.
Don't only link to sites that link to you. Simple link swapping is beginning to be penalised by search engines, so some genuine outbound links to sites that do not link back to you could improve your credibility in the rankings.
Compare your keywords with those of your competitors
Search for suitable keywords on top search engines and see what companies appear in the higher rankings. View these sites' keyword tags (by selecting View > Source) and see what keywords and phrases they use that are different from your own. Keep tweaking your keywords if needed. Also, make sure all the right keywords are in the body of your web page and in your page title.
Keep re-submitting your site to search engines
Once your site is indexed, the search engines will return, but if your site doesn't update frequently, they won't return often. Re-submit occasionally to tell the search engine to come and have another look – particularly after any major changes are made.
You can pay for click-throughs, if the price is right
Search sites like Overture, Google and Espotting sell listings based on a per-click price. You list your site and buy specific keywords or phrases – by agreeing to pay a set fee each time your listing is clicked on. For example, if you bought the keyword "shampoo" and the top price for that keyword was 25p, and you agreed to pay 25p, your listing would appear at the top of search results each time a user typed in "shampoo". Only if people clicked on your listing would you then pay 25p. Sponsored listings like this start at 10p a click, but can run into several pounds. Find out more at the links below:
www.espotting.com
www.overture.com
www.google.co.uk/adwords
Keep your site content fresh
This is not relevant if you are using one of Media Masters' Single Page Website packages, but the more you update your site content the better, and the more links you have to other pages the better. Search engines give you a higher ranking if, each time they visit, content has changed. Also, if your pages link to lots of other pages and to other websites, they rank you higher.
Take advantage of business directories
There is Thomson and Yellow Pages and other offline directories and you should make sure your business is listed in there with your web address. There may be additional charges for this. Online directories, like Yell and Scoot, are also worth looking into. However, many smaller directories do not increase your ranking and could actually harm you, because they aren’t all taken seriously as they are simply additional ways to increase the number of links.
Generic activity to promote your web address
Make sure you take every opportunity to point people to your website. Even if it is a single page, it is a way to contact you and read more about you. You could do all of the following, for example:
- Put the address on the side of company vehicles
- Put the address on all stationery – business cards, letterheads, comp slips, envelopes (if you print these), packaging etc.
- Put the web address on the bottom of all the emails you send out – preferably in a signature so you don’t forget.
- Put the address on all advertising you do – whether in classified ad form or full display.